Wendy’s announced today that additional malicious cyber activity has recently been discovered in some franchise-operated restaurants. Wendy’s has disabled the malware where it has been detected.

Based on the preliminary findings of the previously-disclosed investigation, Wendy’s reported on May 11, 2016 that malware had been discovered on the point of sale (POS) system at fewer than 300 franchised North America Wendy’s restaurants. An additional 50 franchise restaurants were also suspected of experiencing, or had been found to have, other cybersecurity issues. As a result of these issues, we directed our investigator to continue to investigate.

In this continued investigation, Wendy’s has recently discovered a variant of the malware, similar in nature to the original, but different in its execution. This malware has been discovered on some franchise restaurants’ POS systems, and the number of franchise restaurants impacted by these cybersecurity attacks is now expected to be considerably higher than the 300 restaurants already implicated.

Upon detecting the new variant of malware in recent days, we have already disabled it in all franchise restaurants where it has been discovered, and we continue to work aggressively with experts and federal law enforcement to continue our investigation.

1. How did you first find out about the unusual payment card activity?

We were notified by our payment industry contacts of potential unusual payment card activity at some of our restaurants. Reports indicate fraudulent charges may have occurred at other retailers/businesses after payment cards were legitimately used at some Wendy’s restaurants.

2. What has happened recently with this activity?

As part of the ongoing investigation that has been underway, Wendy’s discovered a variant of the malware, similar in nature to the original, but different in its execution affecting additional franchise locations. We believe this series of cybersecurity attacks resulted from certain service providers’ remote access credentials being compromised, allowing access to the POS system.

3. What actions are you taking?

We have been working with our payment industry contacts and cybersecurity experts to conduct a comprehensive investigation to gather facts, while working to protect our customers. We have successfully disabled the malware present where it has been detected. We also continue to work closely with our investigator, federal law enforcement and our payment industry contacts to investigate and understand all of the facts. Until this investigation is completed, it is difficult to determine with certainty the nature or scope of any potential incident. In the meantime, it is always a good idea to regularly monitor card accounts and to quickly report suspicious activity to your bank or credit card company.

Wendy’s is in the late stages of its investigation into unusual payment card activity at some restaurant locations, with the support of cybersecurity experts and other resources. The investigation began earlier this year and is proceeding as expeditiously as possible. Based on the preliminary findings of the investigation and other information, Wendy’s believes that malware affected one particular point of sale system at fewer than 300 of approximately 5,500 franchised North America Wendy’s restaurants, starting in the fall of 2015.

We have worked aggressively with our third-party investigator to identify the source of the malware and quantify the extent of the malicious cyber-attacks, and we have disabled and eradicated the malware from this incident in affected restaurants. We continue to work through a defined process with the payment card brands, our investigator and federal law enforcement authorities to complete the investigation. Wendy’s will provide updates, as appropriate, once we receive the final report from our investigator.

We were notified by our payment industry contacts of potential unusual payment card activity at some of our restaurants. Reports indicate fraudulent charges may have occurred at other retailers/businesses after payment cards were legitimately used at some Wendy’s restaurants.

2. What actions are you taking?

We have been working with our payment industry contacts since recently learning of these reports and we have launched a comprehensive investigation with the help of cybersecurity experts to gather facts, while working to protect our customers.

3. What is the potential customer impact?

Until this investigation is completed, it is difficult to determine with certainty the nature or scope of any potential incident.

4. Are you working with law enforcement?

We are fully cooperating with law enforcement authorities.

5. Is any information besides payment card data potentially at risk?

At this time, we only have received reports of unusual activity involving payment cards used at some of our restaurants.

6. Was my credit card information stolen?

We are working with a leading cybersecurity firm, law enforcement and our payment industry contacts to investigate and understand all of the facts. We are working diligently to investigate these events and will share additional facts as we are able to do so. In the meantime, it is always a good idea to regularly monitor card accounts and to quickly report suspicious activity to your bank or credit card company.

7. Will I be liable for fraudulent charges if I use my payment card at your restaurant?

Generally, individuals that report unauthorized charges in a timely manner to the bank or credit card company that issued their card are not responsible for those charges. As always, in line with prudent personal financial management, we encourage our customers to be diligent in watching for unauthorized charges on their payment cards.

###

MY TAKE ON THE SITUATION

Seeing this corporation post this information on their web site, and not seeing the story broadcast on the FAKE mainstream media TV networks, leads me to believe that it is genuine.

Which leads me to ask the question, since we know Berkshire Hathaway is owned by Warren Buffett and he is a family member to the Greenberg, Kaplan, and Harmon families who have been at the core of the massive lie that has been fed to the public since at least the beginning of this country and probably longer. We know their own Burger King a competitor of Wendy’s. We are well aware of the underhanded attacks this family makes on its competitors and the way they utilize the mainstream media, which is a branch of their family business, to publish fake events that are staged and produced so that their family associated business associated get free publicity while they attack their competition.

Warren Buffett at the Dallas gun rally, almost running into me as he tried to sneak up behind me and I turned around unexpectedly (as you can see the surprised look on his face)

Reading Wendys statement the malware was not making charges that were being sent to a particular location. This means that the creator of the malware was not directly benefiting from the transactions. Wendys taking the proper action and I’m sure refunding that money that was gained from these fraudulent trtansactins shows they have no desire to profit from these illegal transactions, leaving the finger to be pointed with reason at a possible attack being created by a competitor in order to damage wendys business reputation. Causing them to lose valued customers.

Do I have proof of this? No. But I’m sure it is a possibility their investigators are looking at. If they are not, I hope they contact me and I will provide them with plenty of evidence as to the past actions the families that are related to Warren Buffett have taken in the past.

Related

Donate

If you find this information useful, please consider supporting us. 100% of the funds go directly to fund additional projects. The more help we get the faster we can achieve out goals of bringing awareness to the people about this actor based reality and pushing legislation that will eliminate their ability to do this type of attack again in the future.